


just a place to be alone ('cause you're my home)

by doubleyou



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Post-Ending E (NieR: Automata)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 00:33:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21401215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doubleyou/pseuds/doubleyou
Summary: a2 struggles without another voice in her head, the only true connection she's had in years.
Relationships: 2B/A2 (NieR: Automata)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 102





	just a place to be alone ('cause you're my home)

**Author's Note:**

> this is based on the headcanon that 2b's consciousness was shared with a2 after 2b's death, so theres two people in a2's mind. makes for a fun concept

There were many places where A2 felt uncomfortable. The desert, for the simplest example. Sand got lodged in places she forgot she even still _had. _ The abandoned factory was always swarming with machines, and even though the network had disbanded, A2 still felt her synthetic skin crawl whenever she passed by. 9S spent all his time in the city ruins with the resistance, so she wouldn’t even think about crossing paths with him. Seeing that the last thing she saw him do was try and kill her. So A2 was back in the place that made her feel most comfortable and aware, the forest kingdom. 

The endlessly tall trees and wide gorges had felt like home to A2 ever since she ended up in this part of the world. Although she wouldn’t quickly admit it, she missed being around people. The constant noises of wind through the trees and animals bustling around slightly soothed that prickling loneliness at the back of her mind.

The loneliness was much worse than before, though. Six months ago her mind was co-inhabited by her newer model who begged to released from her logic virus. A2 had already seen androids go mad in the same way, and she had vowed a long time ago to never let anyone else go through that. 2B’s consciousness was still intact, and in transferring her sword to A2, she also found residence in the older android’s head. It annoyed her at first, 2B kept making suggestions towards A2’s every move, from the hard task of convincing her to keep an eye on 9S, to smaller things such as fishing tips.

Another side effect of the co-consciousness was that their memories were accessible to each other._ Is that my memory? _ A2 would ask, her own memory banks failing over the years. _No, that happened to me. _ 2B would respond. 2B saw the memories that A2 couldn’t forget if she tried, the ones of the Pearl Harbour descent mission, and A2 snapped for the first few times her companion tried to bring them up. But after a while, A2 began to open up more and more about her emotions on the matter. Emotions were the one thing that couldn’t be felt between them, they were prohibited, after all. 

_Do you prefer Number 2 or A2? _ Was one of the first things she asked A2. _Whatever’s easier. _ She shot back. 

One day A2 took Virtuous Contract to the resistance camp to be upgraded, and a short memory flashed towards her. _Should I call you 2E? _ She asked in her head. There was a silent pause. _I have no purpose for that classification now. 2B will do. _ The other android responded in a tone that seemed forced to A2. _Alright, 2B. _

Time went on and they became much more comfortable in their situation. Their communication flowed easier, they didn’t feel cramped for space within one mind, they functioned separately as much as they did together. The first time A2 heard 2B laugh was after she said a dumb fishing based pun during one of their trips to the sunken city. _Are you okay? _ 2B asked as A2 was silent. _ Sorry. It’s just that I’ve never heard you laugh before. _ A2 responded, feeling slightly warm. _ Oh. I see._ A2 picked up the embarrassment in the other’s voice, she snorted out a laugh. _You’re allowed to find things funny. No one's gonna penalise you for it anymore. _Pod 042 fished another odd boot out of the water. 

Now A2 sat on the bank of one of the forest’s rivers. No pod to fish with her, no one to make a shitty joke to. They weren’t together long, 2B and her. Everything with 9S and the tower felt like it happened so quickly, and the usual conversations their co-consciousness had were replaced with much more serious talks of what their next steps would be, and ultimately, how to stop 9S from doing something very dangerous. 

_ But that didn’t work out too well, did it? _A2 thought, weakly poking a stick into the water. A part of her waited for 2B to respond to that thought, but nothing happened. She watched as a fish swam downstream towards her, A2 quickly moved her arm and stabbed the stick through it. She held the skewered fish up and tried to remember what Pod 042 told her the specific type of it was. Nothing came to her, so she tossed the stick over her shoulder and moved to wash her hands in the river. 

A2 caught her reflection in a piece of broken glass at the resistance camp. _You really haven’t maintained yourself before now. _2B spoke, looking through A2’s eyes. _And you caught the logic virus then died. I don’t think you’ve got a lot of space to talk. _A2 countered, and she could have sworn that 2B somehow rolled her eyes. She had a point, though. The signs of wear and tear were heavily apparent all over the older android’s body. A large amount of her black under-plating was on show, whilst dirt and grime covered the skin that was intact. A2 ran a hand through her now shorter hair and pulled out a small stick. _I__f I had any control of your body I would take you right to Devola and Popola for repairs. Or even just to water for a bath. _2B said with humour in her tone.

Ever since rebooting after the tower’s fall, A2 saw less of a reason to keep herself in one piece. She felt that didn’t have much to live for anymore. 9S was alive without any immediate threat, so she had no moral obligation to watch out for him. Anemone would have more than enough to do at the resistance camp without A2 moping around, seeing her would most likely trigger her survivor's guilt. Despite all this, 2B’s influences came back and A2 would wash herself off once in a while and comb her fingers through her now long hair. She didn’t have to, but a part of her _ wanted _ to. 

Other than the cosmetic parts of her body, A2 felt as if her systems were a lot more powerful than they were before she woke up. _Those pods have pretty good handiwork. _A2 ran through an internal diagnostic of her processors, and it was green across the board. Most importantly, there was no trace of the logic virus. The pods must have found a way to eradicate it for good.

She had no clue where the pods actually were. Pod 042 hovered around her when she came to, but she hadn’t seen it since. A2 thought that Pod 042 was transferred to her from 2B, unless 9S found a way to override that. _I transfer his virus to myself and he steals my pod? That’s one way to say thanks._ A2 dryly joked in her head.

2B would check regularly for signs of the virus in A2’s systems, no matter how many times A2 told her that it was impossible since she severed her connection to the bunker. _If I was infected then there’s still a chance some of my consciousness data was corrupted as well._ 2B explained, A2 stayed silent, letting her go on. _And since I’m staying alive through you, I’d rather not see you corrupted too._ A2 laid down on the top of a large stone structure on the outskirts of the city, trying to occupy herself with the clouds. 

_ Can’t you just say that you give me checkups because you care about me? _ A2 said sarcastically. _I do care about you. _2B responded quickly, catching her off guard. A2 didn’t say anything.

Virtuous Contract wasn’t with her anymore, she assumed that the pods took it to try and recover 2B’s consciousness. It didn’t take long for her to find a new sword, it was much weaker and awkward to use compared to Virtuous Contract, but it fed A2’s need to be armed. 

She stood up from the river bank and picked up her sword, she’d been sitting for a few hours and thought it’d be best to move her body before moss began to grow on it. Walking over the bridge towards the ruined castle, A2 looked down into the gorge below. 2B taught her how to fish in the water below without losing track of her pod. 2B would laugh when Pod 042 came back up with nothing, and A2 would curse under her breath. She shook off the memory and continued on her way.

The last time A2 was at the castle was when she fought 2B and 9S after killing the ‘forest king’. Back then, there was almost a full army of machines throughout the castle trying to defend their tiny king. Now there was an uncomfortable silence in the courtyard which continued as she entered the structure. Pieces of cogs and sheet metal littered the halls from where androids cut through the machines’ poor defences. A2 scanned some of the debris by habit, doing odd collection jobs for androids and peaceful machines where they required all kinds of materials. 

Further inside, A2 recognised the tall room with shelves and ladders as a 'library'. Pod 042 said that these were places where humans collected information. Last time A2 was here there was a scanner also collecting information, but now the room was completely empty, except for the birds she could hear nesting near the roof. _There were so many YoRHa androids on the surface..._ A2 thought, suddenly feeling small. _Now it’s just me, and 9S._

As far as she knew, the pods failed to reboot 2B. She assumed that 9S would have tried to help them, but 2B was close to being completely infected by the logic virus when A2 got to her, and it was already a miracle that A2 managed to reboot since she too was infected by the virus. A calculation took place in a subconscious system telling her that it was next to impossible that all three androids would reboot without any issue. A2 forgot that she even had systems for calculation. 

With relative ease she made her way up the ladders, continuing higher and higher until she reached the large, open space where the small machine was once held. Massive trees lined the sides of the area, obscuring what little brick accents there still were. A2, not paying attention to the ground, stumbled over a root underfoot. She exclaimed out in frustration and made a point to keep an eye on the path ahead of her. 

A sound behind her cut through the silence and suddenly the android was on alert. She tried to convince herself that it was just the birds from the library, but it sounded slightly like a voice. Months ago, A2 would have waited for 2B to give a second opinion, to say, _ you’re fine._ Now she was on her own, and just to calm her nerves, she brought her sword to a more ready position. The noises returned, and they were _ footsteps._

A2 spun around and stood prepared to attack, furiously trying to guess who could be following her. All the infected androids were dead, so it couldn’t be the scanner from before, the only other thing it could be made A2 sigh heavily._ God-fucking-dammit! Doesn’t 9S have anything better to do than still hate me? _A2 was bored, but she definitely wasn’t bored enough to fight 9S to the death again. She stood her ground and listened as he came closer, but the footsteps started to sound less like boots and more like… heels?

A2 braced, and what emerged from the shadows took the breath out of her.

“A2?” Spoke a _very _familiar voice.

All the systems which were previously working at full power had now been halted as A2 struggled to process seeing an android she shared her very being with standing in front of her. An android who, without her, made A2 feel the loneliest she’d been in a long time. A2 tried to compose all these racing thoughts and came out with a single sentence. 

“I thought you were dead.” 

2B took a step forward, putting her completely in the light. Pod 042 hovered slightly above and behind her. 2B reached up and took her blindfold off as A2 could only watch in shock. She put Virtuous Contract behind her, A2 didn’t notice that she had dropped her own shabby sword. 2B’s blue eyes blinked to adjust to vision without a visor. They both stood in silence until 2B quickly closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around A2’s neck in a hug. A2 struggled to believe that this was actually happening, she took a shaky breath and put her arms around 2B’s waist.

In an attempt to stop herself from crying, she joked, “I didn’t think rebooting would’ve made you go soft.” 

“This is an… exceptional circumstance,” 2B responded, muffled in the crook of A2’s neck, “I missed you.”

A2 tightened her grip around her, “yeah, me too.”

Her mind was still racing. There were so many questions she had, and a lot to unpack considering they lived in such an intimate circumstance only months prior. 2B pulled her head back, and as if she was in her mind all over again and spoke, “we need to talk.”

A2 only nodded in response, they both fell back into the embrace. They had all the time in the world to talk. But for now, A2 felt less alone, and had something new to live for.


End file.
